Home Improvement: Re-learned am important lesson about working on ladders today |
- Re-learned am important lesson about working on ladders today
- Newly built house flooded 3 days before closing. Could use all of the advice.
- Best blinds for home with cats?
- Unlikely renovation wins
- Update to unlevel quartz counter install
- Not so simple recaulking shower?
- Cleaning Grout
- Drywall over sheetrock?
- Dewalt Framing Nailer Double Kiss and Other Trigger Problems
- Plaster ceiling failure collapse
- Renovation Help
- How to address a brass/ copper/ steel sandwich on my water heater inlet? If I swap out the steel nipple for brass or copper, will it slow down this corrosion?
- Why do people put water jugs on the lawn?
- House has central AC but doesn't reach top floor well
- Painted wall - wallpaper underneath? Tips needed
- Looking for an evergreen tree for small backyard
- Restoring rusty metal sink cabinet
- Loud drip sounds from my downspouts. Help?
- Quartz Counter Top Cost
- What do you call this type of cabinet hinge? It's not a regular 90 degree cabinet hinge
- Range hood fan stopped working
- Vision in another room
- Trying to drill into Exterior wall
- Removing exterior stone veneer (?)
- Trex Decking for a Balcony?
| Re-learned am important lesson about working on ladders today Posted: 13 Jun 2020 02:19 PM PDT Just wanted to make a post about this so if someone thinks about doing what I did this morning they'll at least think twice. Or at least you can get a laugh out of my comedy of errors. Today I decided that I was going to clean out the gutters over our back deck. No big deal, about 9' high. I went down to our basement and got the super confidence inspiring Walmart step ladder that the previous owners left behind. Oh and my fiancé had just left to get her hair done so no one else at home. Now, I should have just stopped right then, this ladder wasn't even stable on level ground, wooden of course and a big, bold yellow Walmart sticker proudly stating "$19.99!!". I got the section of gutter that didn't have a cover (came off in a storm a few months back) cleaned out and looked at the other covers that were still installed. They don't really do their job, or do it too well I suppose. Because rain just sheets off of it in heavy rain. As I'm working on unscrewing the first bracket from the gutter is when I feel it..... one of the opposite legs had slipped in the gap of the deck boards and that's when the ladder promptly started collapsing in on itself like an imploding building. I swear every single news story about people dying from falling off a step ladder must have played through my head on the way down. Thankfully I wast too banged up, landed mostly on my shoulder, my chiropractor should have fun with that. Of course got scolded by my fiancé about doing that without her there. Went to the local homeless despot and picked up a proper step ladder this afternoon. If anyone else has a similar rickety old ladder, just don't use it. My fall could have been so much worse (land on something important like my neck/head, actually miss the deck and fall the ~20' down, etc). Now I know why my dad always had me hold the ladder for him growing up. [link] [comments] |
| Newly built house flooded 3 days before closing. Could use all of the advice. Posted: 13 Jun 2020 03:56 AM PDT As the title says. Friday, 3 days before closing, the day of our final walk through a cleaner turned on the bath tub with the drain closed and then left the property. The builder and I discovered the flood 4 hours later. The entire master bath/closet most of the master bedroom and some of the living room had standing water of 1/4 inch at most. The water also went through/under the wall into the guest bedroom and guest bathroom a fair amount. We have tile throughout. The builder removed all of the water and the floors were dry at the 5 hour mark. They brought in fans and dehumidifiers in all affected rooms at about the 9 hour mark that are still running. Edit: I just want to thank everyone for the support and advice. You are all so great and thoughtful. The house is on a slab so it's just tile on concrete. I'm on the phone with the builder today trying to work out all of the details. I'm not ready to walk away just yet but as many many of you have said, I'm insisting on removing 2 ft of drywall and insulation, disinfecting, drying out and then putting back together. I'll also insist on addendum to the contract to cover future problems arising from this and mold inspections. I'm optimistic that the builder will work with me as thus far they have been very reasonable and honestly it shouldn't cost them too much money. Edit 2: thanks again to everyone giving advice and support. I'm sorry I haven't been checking in and answering questions. I don't usually participate in reddit that much so I'm a bit overwhelmed and have had a busy day. [link] [comments] |
| Best blinds for home with cats? Posted: 13 Jun 2020 07:02 PM PDT We have owned an end unit townhome in a small commuter town for almost 2 years. There are LOTS of windows, and they all have the narrow white plastic blinds. When we moved in we only had 1 laid back cat, but last fall I found a kitten by the highway. She watches birds obsessively and has broken quite a few blinds. The spare bedroom now has no window treatments because she cracked the blinds right down the center a few months ago. She has gotten better and doesn't pull too many stunts like that anymore, but she does still paw the blinds out of the way to get behind them and a few of the slats have been broken that way. We try to open the blinds for her as much as we can, but we have a lot of neighbors and privacy is important to us... Thankfully she doesn't claw/climb curtains. She just needs access to all the windows 100% of the time. While "not destroyable" and "cat accessible" are Needs, here are some Wants: Noise dampening- we are about 100 yards from a highway, enough said. Heat blocking- there are 6 windows in our bedroom alone and it can get toasty in there when it's sunny. Easy open/close. In your experience, what kinds of blinds and/or curtains are best for this? Cat Tax in case you were wondering what we're dealing with. Thank you! EDIT: Additional picture: https://imgur.com/dyV0j88 [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 13 Jun 2020 12:02 PM PDT What's one awesome surprise you found whole doing a reno? I just got 8 sheets of drywall for my mudroom area. It was all wood panelling that the previous owner attempted to seal the joints with caulking and then painted. It looked terrible. I started ripping off the panelling and discovered drywall underneath. It's in great shape. I'll need to redo some of the seams and will in all the tiny nail holes. And return the 8 sheets of drywall I just bought for this project. This turned a week long project with nearly a whole demo to something I should be able to get paint on by the end of the weekend! [link] [comments] |
| Update to unlevel quartz counter install Posted: 13 Jun 2020 09:16 AM PDT The guys just came out today and straight up told us the original installers mest up. They should have taken a level and then consulted with us. They shimmed up one side which lowered the other side. They used enough shims to essentially create a new layer to the base cabinets and the caulked it all in. So a happy ending. Thanks for everyone's advice and input. [link] [comments] |
| Not so simple recaulking shower? Posted: 13 Jun 2020 07:06 PM PDT I had noticed issues with the caulking around the sliding door track of the shower and wanted to replace it with 100% silicone caulk. After removing the old caulk and getting a closer look I'm not sure if this is a simple job. Any advice on where to go from here with respect to fixing the tiling/waterproofing below the track? Will it need to be gutted or is this something that mold maintenance and neater caulking can remedy? House originally 1973 build but renovated the year before purchase. Eastern NC. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 13 Jun 2020 06:50 PM PDT I attempted to clean my kitchen and hallway grout today in areas that were dark (original grout color is very light gray/platinum color). Big mistake. The grout is now darker and more pronounced even though I followed the directions on the cleaner (used this. Any suggestions? I'm thinking I need to hire a professional to do the job. To make matters worse, the applicator for this bottle is terrible and some of the solution made its way on the tile, and the tile is now a bit flat/tarnished in some areas. Sigh. 😞 [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 13 Jun 2020 10:28 PM PDT Hey all, so on this journey to make our house feel more like a home, the next big project I decided to take on was solving the issue of textured walls. I'm honestly not a fan and wanted to remove the old walls which I believe are sheetrock and replace them with drywall. So, some information. I have enough drywall for the room in question. The current wall I believe is plaster* (the house was built in 1969). Behind this wall is a thin furring strip and low profile outlets because the cinderblock outside wall is about an inch or two behind the plaster. I opened up a portion of the wall thinking if the insulation were bad I'd replace it, but honestly it seems like a quality job. So a family member who has been doing this for some time, a general handyman if you will suggested we just cement the drywall on top of the plaster and use 2" drywall screens into the furring strips through the plaster. Then use mud to even out some of the textured areas. There is some really nice trim around the windows that we would avoid taking down and make the job quicker. So the reason why I'm on Reddit at 1:30am wondering this is because is this really the correct approach? Are there any downsides to doing this? Would this violate any code? Am I overthinking a superficial project? Hopefully that made sense, hope to hear from you folks soon. Photos: https://share.icloud.com/photos/0UXMnzwOJeB4K8ppRh5zVoM2Q [link] [comments] |
| Dewalt Framing Nailer Double Kiss and Other Trigger Problems Posted: 13 Jun 2020 10:00 PM PDT I've got a new (~3 months old) Dewalt DWF83PL that's started developing a couple problems. The less serious is that the trigger doesn't always activate when the contact trip is pushed in. It feels like the trigger and whatever mechanism is inside the trigger is loose and that something isn't catching. If I hold the nailer upside down, it catches. And if I hold the trigger forward while pushing the contact trip, it'll catch. Before buying my own, I'd borrowed other Dewalt nailers of the same model and I've seen this before in them. The more serious problem, which I haven't seen in any of the ones I've borrowed, is that I'm now getting a double (or triple) kiss when firing. One of these doubles ricocheted into my hand today. Thankfully the result was only a small cut and some aches, but it could've been worse. The unit has a selective fire trigger and it feels like it sometimes sticks in contact mode when it's definitely set to sequential. Any ideas on what could be causing these? I can see a spring behind the trigger that looks like it might be misaligned, but I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like in the first place, so it's hard to say for certain if it's wrong. It's possible (likely) that I haven't been oiling it enough, so I made sure to do that today and it helped a bit with the double kiss, but didn't solve it. I've heard double kisses blamed on bad technique, and while it's certainly possible that my technique is poor, it hasn't changed, so I don't know why it'd have started now. I didn't check today to see what psi my compressor was running at, though it should've been 100-120 psi. [link] [comments] |
| Plaster ceiling failure collapse Posted: 13 Jun 2020 09:43 PM PDT |
| Posted: 13 Jun 2020 07:07 PM PDT Renovation Help So we have roughly a 20 year old pool, whole reason we purchased the house two years ago. Immediately we noticed the drain that was installed was ineffective and causes water to sit by the house. Noticed last year we were losing water at a pretty decent rate. Had it checked out this year and basically the entire spa line is busted from what they could tell. Well that line is under 80% of the concrete deck so ripping that up and trying to make it look right was going to be a mess. The pool area has ZERO space to entertain. Husband and I talked about it and decided screw it let's go big and use this to turn it into the space we wanted. Due to needing to cut up 80% of the concrete for the spa line and the drainage issue we have. I got 4 quotes and they were all for the same thing: Replace all pool lines (we wanted to get another 20 years out of the lines and based on the pressure test they were in bad shape) Pull and replace concrete pool deck to new dimensions Channel drain and solution to drainage issue in corner of house and screened in Composite deck (we want to build a deck off the pool deck rather than all concrete) Replace steps off house. Use composite boards Fire pit with a retaining wall in back and pavers and brick surround for the fire pit Rehab/replace fence Three of the four companies were able to do it all which is what we prefer for simplicity. Here is where I need some help. We picked a contractor they seemed great and like they could get it all done reasonably priced. So this past Wednesday they came out and demoed the concrete. No worries. But I still haven't chosen pavers for the firepit area, no selections on the kool deck colors. (We have choices for the composite deck but that is only because I harassed the guy to get the brand of deck they are using). Again okay I guess that's fine. Friday, a gentleman comes out to pressure test the lines. I'm super confused as we ask for them all to be replaced. Our contract says replace all return lines. Tried to get ahold of our contact and like always he's MIA. Called the office asked to speak to the owner, no call back. Finally at 5pm on Friday my contact and owner call me to tell me they were never replacing all the lines. Just doing repairs for the damaged areas. Basically railroaded me into agreeing to that can what we want and the contract states which is replace all the lines. Fast forward to today they have a crew out "repairing" the lines and some of them are just shot. One of the loop repairs puts the pipes only 2 inches from the ground (that's above the freeze line). Tried calling our contact and nothing. No call back. Am I being unreasonable here in what I'm asking for? Also what level of service am I supposed to be getting from my "project manager"? He never picks up when I have a questions, says he will drop off samples of stones still don't have them, says he will get me pricing on the Kool deck (don't have that). It's been issue after issue and they have started and I'm terrified unless I stay on top of everyone this will be a complete disaster costing me more to fix the damage they did. Thoughts help?!? Anyone else go through this process? What was your experience? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 13 Jun 2020 09:12 PM PDT I've got major corrosion on both ends of this copper flex fitting. It's my understanding that having steel touching copper/brass creates what is essentially a battery where elections migrate and increase corrosion. Current situation, I've got: pex -> brass fitting -> threaded steel nipple -> flex copper pipe -> water heater threads. Both the steel nipple and the threads on the water heater seem to be corroding. https://imgur.com/gallery/LmG25vo Will I be better off replacing the steel threaded pipe with copper or brass? [link] [comments] |
| Why do people put water jugs on the lawn? Posted: 13 Jun 2020 09:07 PM PDT This neighbor has water jugs placed strategically on their front and back lawns. Another neighbor nearby has done the same. What is the purpose? [link] [comments] |
| House has central AC but doesn't reach top floor well Posted: 13 Jun 2020 08:45 PM PDT We have a house from the 1960s and the central AC doesn't reach the upstairs room well. I'm currently thinking about getting a window AC unit but I'm wondering if there are better options or what window unit to get. [link] [comments] |
| Painted wall - wallpaper underneath? Tips needed Posted: 13 Jun 2020 04:27 PM PDT Third major room overhaul on the way and I've noticed vertical lines throughout our 1950s living room. If this is indeed wallpaper, can I prime, gouge out a nice crevace, fill with quickset and sand smooth? There's no way in hell I could remove the wallpaper and I refuse to throw up another layer of drywall over it. Advice welcome. Pics incoming. Swapping to pc. https://i.imgur.com/kdJ7JGu.jpg [link] [comments] |
| Looking for an evergreen tree for small backyard Posted: 13 Jun 2020 07:40 PM PDT Hi guys, I'm looking for an evergreen tree (won't shed) or shrubs for a small backyard to help create more privacy. Max size is up to 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide. I live in zone 9, so a lot of the trees I like aren't suitable. Does anyone have suggestions on nice looking evergreen trees or shrubs that would fit in my zone? Ideally they would have a nice color (any color). Thanks in advance. [link] [comments] |
| Restoring rusty metal sink cabinet Posted: 13 Jun 2020 07:38 PM PDT How would you restore this heavily rusted sink cabinet? I have already pained the exterior with metal paint since it was minimally rusted, but the interior has a thick layer of rust so I have hesitant to attack it, but I feel now is the time ... Unemployment :) Of course I am asking to restore because replacing it is not an option, I live with my aunt and she is very tied to her antique items. Thank you! [link] [comments] |
| Loud drip sounds from my downspouts. Help? Posted: 13 Jun 2020 05:24 PM PDT Hoping for some suggestions to minimize the sound coming from my downsoputs. I have this type with a leaf-catcher at the bottom. It is the leaf catcher that seems to be the source of the sound. Drips hit the metal mesh strainer and make a sound. I tried hanging a wire down my DS from the top to hopefully reduce drips - give the water something to cling to on the way down, was my thought - but it didn't help. I tried a leaf screen at the top opening in the gutter, but this gets clogged quickly and makes the dripping worse. I don't have a problem with the hole at the gutter getting clogged up, really, or stuff collecting around the opening. I can't put a downspout sponge in to lessen the sound or it circumvents the strainer, and all the water splashes out besides the house instead of going in the pipe to the catchment. Any suggestions? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 13 Jun 2020 07:35 PM PDT Looking into vanity tops for a 29 1/4in bathroom vanity. It will have a vessel sink on top of it. Called a local business that does granite tops with holes drilled in the top for the sink and faucet for $30/sqft. They also do quartz but I never asked the price. Anyone know off the top of their head what a quartz vanity top would go for? [link] [comments] |
| What do you call this type of cabinet hinge? It's not a regular 90 degree cabinet hinge Posted: 13 Jun 2020 07:10 PM PDT |
| Range hood fan stopped working Posted: 13 Jun 2020 07:07 PM PDT For a few months our range hood fan has been more noisy than usual, mainly with a rattly sort of sound. Tonight it seems to have stopped working completely. The light still works but flipping the fan switch does nothing. My first question is as it's been noisy and rattly lately, would that lead to believe its the fan motor that's the issue? How difficult is it to replace the motor or whole range hood? I'm not handy and get anxious attempting any electrical work. Last question, if the fan is faulty, could this be a fire hazard somehow? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 13 Jun 2020 10:48 PM PDT I need some vision in room A from B. I'd like to add a camera-televisor to the mix. Do you any idea which one I could use? What if there was no electricity in room A. This sounds like I'm detaining someone 😅😅 Anyways I'd like any help [link] [comments] |
| Trying to drill into Exterior wall Posted: 13 Jun 2020 10:27 PM PDT Im trying to hang some wood on the outside of my house and the titanium drill bit won't go passed about 1/4 of an inch! It almost sounds like there's metal behind there but I'm not sure. Any ideas!? [link] [comments] |
| Removing exterior stone veneer (?) Posted: 13 Jun 2020 10:21 PM PDT My husband and I are looking at purchasing a house that has a stone veneer on the exterior. It's pretty hideous, in our opinion, and are wondering if it's possible to remove it and a ballpark of what this along with restoring the brick would cost? I'm guessing there is brick underneath the stone based on when the house was built and other homes in the neighborhood. We are trying to determine if this is something worth pursuing if we were to buy the house and there is brick underneath. Here's a photo of the back of the house. Thank you! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 13 Jun 2020 10:17 PM PDT Looking in to replacing our second story balcony floorboards with Trex decking. I can't seem to find any info on using this material for a balcony though... Is there any reason why this would be inadvisable? Also looking for opinions on Trex from those who have used the product. [link] [comments] |
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